Louis L. McAllister Photographs

Louis L. McAllister photographed people and places near
Burlington, Vermont for 60 years. He was born in Columbus, Nebraska on
October 16, 1876, the son of Julius S. McAllister (born 1841 in Lincoln, VT)
and Rosette Gould (born in Vermont in 1851). Julius McAllister worked as a
photographer and dentist in Washington D.C., Bristol, Vermont and Columbus,
Nebraska. Around 1895, Julius, his third wife Amy, and their children left
Nebraska for the Union Soldiers’ Colony in Fitzgerald, Georgia. By 1900,
Julius and Amy were divorced, and Amy and her stepson Louis were working as
photographers in Thomasville, Georgia.

In 1907 Louis McAllister married Cora Shepard (born about 1872
in Vermont) in Holland, Michigan. By 1910, they were living in Queen City
Park in South Burlington, Vermont, where Louis established a photography
studio. The McAllisters moved to Burlington, and by 1919 they lived at 47 N.
Winooski Avenue. They continued to occupy a summer cottage at Queen City
Park, and were active in the Queen City Park Association, which held
spiritualist camp meetings annually. McAllister conducted his photography
business from home until his death in 1963.

McAllister’s “trademark” was his panorama camera which made him
familiar to all sorts of groups ranging from graduating classes to state
police to summer camp groups. In addition he did print 8 x 10 photos, many
of which document building construction and Burlington Street Department
projects, as well as group and individual portraits.

The L.L. McAllister Collection includes portraits, construction
projects, buildings, businesses and events in the Burlington area covering
the period ca. 1920-1960. The collection also includes photos of street,
bridge, airport and sewer construction and repair, as well as group
portraits of clubs, schools, etc.

1959 photo of a ceremony at Battery Park, very likely at the veterans memorial dedicated to Howard W. Plant. C. Douglas Cairns, Mayor of Burlington (perhaps former mayor by this date) is standing at a microphone, addressing the crowd. An elderly lady--perhaps a relative of Plant's-- stands apart from the crowd to view the granite memorial. A number of onlookers from the neighborhood, plus other veterans, have gathered for the occasion.

1952 photo of an Armistice Day (after 1954: Veterans Day) commemoration at the VFW memorial in Battery Park. A sailor stands in front of the memorial dedicated to the memory of seaman Howard W. Plant, "the first Burlington boy" to die in World War I, specifically on the US destroyer "Jacob Jones," 6 Dec., 1917. Burlington Mayor J. Edward Moran (2nd from far left) and other veterans and citizens look on in silence.

1952 photo of (very likely) an Armistice Day parade, on the way to the VFW memorial at Battery Park (see mcalB21F14i11). Leading the parade are Burlington Mayor J. Edward Moran (left), two other men in uniform, and a color guard carrying the American flag and the VFW Howard Plant Post No. 782 flag. 782 is named after Burlington's first casualty in World War I, Howard W. Plant.